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289th out of 536 books
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368 voters
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The Good Doctor
by
Damon Galgut
A finalist for the Man Booker Prize and Winner of the Commonwealth Writers' Prize for the region of Africa, The Good Doctor is a taut, intense tale of the dashed hopes of the post apartheid era and the small betrayals that doom a friendship. It has been greeted with enthusiastic interest around the world and assures Damon Galgut's place as a major international talent. Whe...more
Paperback, 224 pages
Published
September 7th 2004
by Grove Press
(first published 2002)
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Spare, haunting, seamless and profound, this book came to me via a recommendation by Jessica Treat. There's something about those South African writers--Coetzee, Brink, Gordimer and now Galgut--that when they get it right, they really get it right. There's such a ghost that hangs over their books, and this one was no exception. This book was a superb read.
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Who IS the eponymous “good doctor?” Is it Laurence Waters, the idealist, naïve, committed new physician who is primed to make some waves in a threadbare, mostly deserted hospital in post-apartheid South Africa? Or is it Frank Eloff, the disenchanted current doctor in self-exile and who is far more in touch with the realities of the area?
In some ways, it is both: these two men become inexorably connected. Laurence Waters arrives on the scene as a result of a new South African law whi...more
In some ways, it is both: these two men become inexorably connected. Laurence Waters arrives on the scene as a result of a new South African law whi...more
The Good Doctor tells the story of two doctors who are almost exact opposites of each other. Lawrence arrives at the hospital in South Africa full of passion and optimism. He wants to make a difference in other peoples lives. Frank has been there for years and is rather pessimistic about the human condition. He is horrified by the fact that he has to share a room with Lawrence. They are an unlikely paring with Frank stubbonly refusing to become Lawrence's friend due to circumstances that have oc...more
Damon Galgut has an exceptional quality to pierce your mind with his writing. Every word from him embodies a listlessness, but the whole still comes together to make you nervous with thought and a latent madness. There were times when I thought Galgut was articulating my mind, and that is just not in this book, but more so in his other remarkable work - In a Strange Room.
The prose in this book is beautiful and fluid - perhaps that is a South African quality (though sometimes I struggle with...more
The prose in this book is beautiful and fluid - perhaps that is a South African quality (though sometimes I struggle with...more
Excellent novel. The major fault is that it arrived after "Disgrace", J. M. Coetzee's masterpiece. Both novels look at the current political and racial problems of South Africa through the lens of the individual. Both novels have a divorced male protagonist seeking a solution for the problem of sex. While David Lurie, Coetzee's protagonist, falls out of grace due to his sexual impulses, Frank, Galgut's hero, finds in them a secret emancipation. Both protagonists are on the verge of cyn...more
A fascinating character study of the relationship between two doctors in rural South Africa - one of whom is bright-eyed and naive, the other of whom is jaded and cynical - in the post-Apartheid era. Although at first it seems perfectly clear who the good doctor is, the novel progressively complicates this question.... I was particularly interested in reading this novel because I've started some research on my own great grandfather, who was a doctor in a Japanese-Canadian Internment camp durin...more
It's taken me over a week, but I have uprated this to four stars. When I finished the initial reading, I was left feeling distinctly confused. The two main characters are in such diametric opposition to each other, one naive, fresh, young, enthusiastic and active, the other jaded, cynical, apathetic and world-weary, that I decided they must be representatives of a type rather than complex personalities with complete psychologies and back stories. And, swayed by the title, I assumed that active a...more
I'm awarding The Good Doctor my book of the year 2010! It's
exactly how I would describe a best book: relevent topic, easy flowing prose, emotional depth and slightly dark. If not JM Coetzee's equal, Galgut is most definetly one of his contemporaries.
Off Amazon: "Shortlisted for the 2003 Man Booker prize, Galgut's fifth novel, his first to be published in the U.S., explores postapartheid South Africa's ambiguous present, where deep-rooted social and political tensions thr...more
exactly how I would describe a best book: relevent topic, easy flowing prose, emotional depth and slightly dark. If not JM Coetzee's equal, Galgut is most definetly one of his contemporaries.
Off Amazon: "Shortlisted for the 2003 Man Booker prize, Galgut's fifth novel, his first to be published in the U.S., explores postapartheid South Africa's ambiguous present, where deep-rooted social and political tensions thr...more
Damon Galgut, who wrote his first book when he was seventeen, has a literary style that does not suit the thriller genre.
You have two men in a deserted hospital, and Maria in a shack on the outskirts of town. Mama's Bar features. The Commandant is a figure from the past. Confused? You should be. Add more soldiers, neglected gardens, ghostly houses and the disappearance of wounded medical staff.
This eerie novel is actually tedious. However, it is beautifully written and will probably ...more
You have two men in a deserted hospital, and Maria in a shack on the outskirts of town. Mama's Bar features. The Commandant is a figure from the past. Confused? You should be. Add more soldiers, neglected gardens, ghostly houses and the disappearance of wounded medical staff.
This eerie novel is actually tedious. However, it is beautifully written and will probably ...more
I read this novel a second time because it is a selection of one of my book clubs and feel that there are too many unanswered questions. Set in modern South Africa, the plot involves a few doctors sent to an unneeded hospital in a former township. The atmosphere is Kafkaesque and there is an undercurrent of fear and terrible violence. The writing is well paced and the reader cares about the characters.
2003 short listed for Man Booker Prize (with Oryx and Crake, and Brick Lane and others). Have not yet read the 2003 winner Vernon God Little: Hope that it's good enough to have won over this book.
A young idealistic doctor and a jaded older one become friends, of a kind. With so many little mysteries of human behavior, you'll wonder who really is the "good" doctor.
A young idealistic doctor and a jaded older one become friends, of a kind. With so many little mysteries of human behavior, you'll wonder who really is the "good" doctor.
Interesting. I'm still pondering my reactions to this one. It's a dry book - as arid as the landscape it contains is lush. The protagonist is by turns sympathetic and horrible - his behaviour veers from obsessively private through to oddly compulsive - he has cold, manipulative relationships that lead nowhere and others that he refuses to terminate although they are clearly long over. The extent to which this can be seen as a subtle metaphor for the state of South Africa is questionable, but def...more
I found this book depressing. It had this haunting atmosphere about it and the relationship between the two doctors provided an interesting dissertion about the nature of South Africans. There are the optimists and then there are the pessimists who can't wait to 'get the fuck out of this God forsaken continent' to quote Leonardo DiCaprio in Blood Diamonds.
Lori Crossley
added it
This was my first Damon Galgut book and the description of his sparse writing style was accurate and thoroughly enjoyed. His topic of racial conflict in the new African landscape was laid out in a more obtuse way then Coetzee's Disgrace. It was enjoyable to spend time with characters who live in the grey like most of us.
There are two doctors in this story by Damon Galgut, one a middle aged cynic waiting to step into the chief's shoes the other a newly qualified, keen and idealistic doctor on his years compulsory community service. They share a room in a neglected country hospital in one of South Africa's former "homelands", and together share the trials and tribulations of a changing nation.
The book had its moments of suspense and revulsion at the way things were in South Africa and sadness at the way things may still be in South Africa. But it wasn't as good as I expected. It's written in the first person and, unfortunately I grew a bit tired of the voice Galgut had created for this protagonist.
Maggs
rated it
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The sales asst in one of the leading book chains in South Africa
Again, another great from this interesting author. No wonder his latest book (In a Strange room) has been selected for the ManBooker. Again, the language is spare and stark; easy to read even though it is deep; looks at post apartheid South Africa. Galgut definitely takes over from where Nadine Gordimer left~
Interesting - reading the other reviews the words spare and sparse are frequently used. The writing is certainly economical, but the vision is fully realised, with the characters very solid and almost recognisable. Frank is so human, Laurence so youthful! The frustrations are specific and yet universal: that sense of personal futility alternating with the hope of effecting change. After a few Doris Lessing disappointments I often avoid SA books, but I am very glad I chose this book. The la...more
Shortlisted for the 2003 Man Booker prize. Post-apartheid South Africa. Self-exiled Dr. Frank Eloff in an inadequate hospital in a desolate former "homeland" befriends a new volunteer. I was drawn to the authors comparison with a personal favorite, J M Coetzee. A quick read; the prose is measured, captivating, and mysterious.
This is the story of Frank, a doctor in a very outlying and neglected hospital in South Africa, whose world is turned upside down by the arrival of Laurence, who has to share a room with him and has some very different ideas.
I was about three or four pages into this book, when I realised I had actually read it before, which is why keeping a better record of what books I've read is a really good idea. But never mind. Because I had put it forward for a challenge, I carried on reading a...more
I was about three or four pages into this book, when I realised I had actually read it before, which is why keeping a better record of what books I've read is a really good idea. But never mind. Because I had put it forward for a challenge, I carried on reading a...more
Lovely, spare prose, a brilliant ending, and thoughtful musings on innocence, experience, and saving the world. Narrated by Frank, an older and experienced doctor working in a near-failing hospital in South Africa, the book traces the arrival of a young and idealistic new doctor doing a year of community service. As the new doctor tries to "do something" to help the local residents, conflict surfaces between the entrenched staff, the locals, and the new doctor.
But throu...more
But throu...more
His writing is very much like J.M. Coetzee's - the very realist imagery-sparse style, the pacing, the mood - but less detached. It's easier to relate to Galgut's characters and actually like them. (With Coetzee I often just don't understand what goes on in their heads at all.) Also Galgut, like Coetzee is South African and this story, like Coetzee's, is set in South Africa. It speaks of all the desolation, detachedness, despair and disgrace that Coetzee's stories speak of, so comparisons are har...more
A sparse book that does not totally fulfill its ambitions but is a good read. A naive doctor comes to a hospital that exists as a historical hangover from the apartheid homelands and shines an unflattering light on the burnt out disapointed main character.
Well written. It paints a vivid picture. I have visited towns like this myself as in my teens/early adulthood. The country and political situation has moved ahead and I wonder if this book will have relevance in yhears to come. Read it now!
A young, enthusiastic doctor joins a stalled medical practice in a rural African township and the narrator, - depressed, aimless and entrenched – is reluctantly drawn into a friendship while the newcomer’s actions and energy stirs up unwelcome changes.
I didn’t find this story terribly interesting, beyond the question of whether the narrator's 'wisdom' was articulated despair, nor were the characters truly engaging, but I did enjoy the writing and imagery. The atmosphere was flooded ...more
I didn’t find this story terribly interesting, beyond the question of whether the narrator's 'wisdom' was articulated despair, nor were the characters truly engaging, but I did enjoy the writing and imagery. The atmosphere was flooded ...more
This South African morality play is reminiscent of Coetzee and Kafka. It takes place in the early 2000s in a virtually non-functioning hospital in one of the former "homelands." "The real world always wins." (p.100) I thought it very well written with interesting characters and plot.
There is no way I can recommend this book. 285 pages - thought at about 200 pages it was finally going to get moving. It just never did for me. Just not a good story line, characters don't have much to offer and the writing was very mediocre.
In the accolades printed on the back of the book, Galgut is compared to J. M. Coetzee. Seriously? IMO he cannot hold a candle to Coetzee.
Most of the story is utterly unexciting, none of the characters is particularly likeable. It does pick up a bit in the last three or so chapters.
Ultimately disappointing.
Most of the story is utterly unexciting, none of the characters is particularly likeable. It does pick up a bit in the last three or so chapters.
Ultimately disappointing.
I read The Good Doctor twice and enjoyed it more the second time although it's still not quite a 5. I also read The Impostor which he wrote directly after The Good Doctor. It's also quite good but more like early Ian McEwan - very suspenseful.
Whilst this novel may be sparse and dry to some, it had me completely captivated. No big words or cheap page turning tricks. Just a simple story, slowly unwound, and a protagonist left blinded and isolated by his own ideals.
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